Coastal communities to receive nearly £10m Covid-19 funding

Coastal communities across Scotland will receive £9.7m support to help them respond against the impact of covid-19.

The revenue will be generated by the Scottish Crown Estate’s marine assets.

The funding is up by more than £2m on last year and is more than double the funding available under the old Coastal Communities Fund.

It will be allocated to the 26 local authority areas which have coastlines, with funding based on their share of the adjacent sea area.

In response to Covid-19, the scope of the fund has been broadened this year, with local authorities now able to directly support businesses, including third sector organisations, affected by the pandemic.

Land Reform Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on communities across the country and particularly those people and businesses living and working in our coastal areas, which are often reliant on tourism.

“That is why we have widened the remit of these funds to include direct support, where necessary, to coastal businesses and third sector organisations.

“We have also worked to allocate this year’s funding as swiftly as possible to enable local authorities to help these organisations through the economic shock caused by the pandemic, and direct resource to where it is most needed in support of a wellbeing economy.”

COSLA Environment and Economy Spokesperson Councillor Steven Heddle said: “COSLA has worked with Marine Scotland to finalise arrangements for distribution of net revenues and welcomes their timely allocation to Local Authorities. We continue working on the longer-term review to develop an appropriate approach for the future distribution methodology.”